Chair model B403 thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Design 1900 to Now, Room 74

Chair model B403

Chair
1927 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Architect, interior designer and furniture designer, Ferdinand Kramer (1898-1985) studied at the Bauhaus before studying architecture with Theodor Fischer in Munich. During his early career, Kramer designed furniture for Thonet and worked with Ernest May on the affordable public housing project, New Frankfurt (1925-30). Kramer emigrated to America in 1938 where he worked with Norman Bel Geddes on designs for the New York World's Fair of 1939 and on projects including early 'flat pack' furniture.

Ferdinand Kramer's bentwood chair is functional, unornamented, inexpensive and lightweight. These were all characteristics that modernist architects and designers aspired to in the 1920s. Their favourite furniture was the mass-produced chairs by Thonet, mostly designed in the nineteenth century, because they fitted their modernist ideals. Some architects, like Kramer, designed new bentwood furniture, like this chair, that exploited the potential of materials and manufacturing technique, but which were totally of their own time.

On his return to Germany in 1952, Kramer taught and served as the director of building at the Goethe University Frankfurt and was given the task of rebuilding the university; over twenty university buildings were constructed during Kramer's tenure.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleChair model B403 (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Steam-bent beech and plywood, stained black
Brief description
Model B403 chair designed by Ferdinand Kramer and manufactured by Thonet Gebrüder, steam-bent beech wood and plywood stained black, 1927
Physical description
Bentwood chair, stained black, with plywood panel seat and back, and bentwood stretchers.
Dimensions
  • Height: 81.5cm
  • Width: 43.5cm
  • Depth: 64.5cm
Style
Gallery label
  • A groundbreaking movement In a clean break with heavily decorated styles of the past, Modernist designers turned to simple materials like bentwood and tubular steel. In Germany, a number of housing exhibitions and publications sought to bring this visionary movement to a new, wide audience. The robust, black bentwood chair and metal table lamp were included in the Frankfurt Register, a publication issued by the Frankfurt city council to promote this new, more affordable form of design. Exhibition poster rejecting decorative interiors ‘Wie Wohnen? Die Wohnung’ (How should we live? The Dwelling), 1927 Designed by Willi Baumeister Issued by the Deutscher Werkbund, Germany Lithograph on paper Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund Museum no. E.266-2005 Black bentwood chair Model B403, 1927 Designed by Ferdinand Kramer Manufactured by Thonet, Germany Steam-bent beech frame and plywood back rest and seat, stained black Museum no. W.3-2005 Adjustable table lamp Dell-Lampe Type K, about 1929 Designed by Christian Dell Manufactured by Zimmermann GmbH, Germany Steel, nickelled brass and ebonite Museum no. M.27-1992 The object sits in the 'Housing and Leaving' section of the Design 1900-Now gallery opened in June 2021. (2021)
  • 9. Chair, Model B403 Designed by Ferdinand Kramer (German, 1898-1985) Made by Gebruder Thonet, Frankenberg, Germany, 1927 Bent beechwood frame, moulded plywood seat and back W.3-2005 In the late 1920s, the furniture company Thonet produced a group of chairs designed by leading modernist architects. Although this chair uses Thonet's traditional bentwood technique, it was a radical break from their earlier bentwood designs. Designed to be robust and easily manufactured, it was intended as a new form of mass-produced, modern domestic furniture. This label was written for the V&A 20th century gallery, closed in 2020.
Object history
Purchased by the V&A in 2005 [RF 2005/190].
Summary
Architect, interior designer and furniture designer, Ferdinand Kramer (1898-1985) studied at the Bauhaus before studying architecture with Theodor Fischer in Munich. During his early career, Kramer designed furniture for Thonet and worked with Ernest May on the affordable public housing project, New Frankfurt (1925-30). Kramer emigrated to America in 1938 where he worked with Norman Bel Geddes on designs for the New York World's Fair of 1939 and on projects including early 'flat pack' furniture.

Ferdinand Kramer's bentwood chair is functional, unornamented, inexpensive and lightweight. These were all characteristics that modernist architects and designers aspired to in the 1920s. Their favourite furniture was the mass-produced chairs by Thonet, mostly designed in the nineteenth century, because they fitted their modernist ideals. Some architects, like Kramer, designed new bentwood furniture, like this chair, that exploited the potential of materials and manufacturing technique, but which were totally of their own time.

On his return to Germany in 1952, Kramer taught and served as the director of building at the Goethe University Frankfurt and was given the task of rebuilding the university; over twenty university buildings were constructed during Kramer's tenure.
Bibliographic references
  • Das Neue Frankfurt 2 (1929)
  • Das Frankfurter Register 5 in Das Neue Frankfurt 1 (1929)
  • Wilk, Christopher, Thonet: 150 Year of Furniture (New York: Barons, 1980)
  • p. 35 Hirdina, Heinz, ed. Neues Bauen, Neues Gestalten: das neue Frankfurt, die neue Stadt (Berlin: Elefanten Press, 1984)
  • Diehl, Ruth, Die Tätigkeit Ernst Mays in Frankfurt am Main in den Jahren 1925-30 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Siedlungsbaus (1984)
  • p. 174 Lichtenstein, Claude, Ferdinand Kramer: der Charme des Systematischen (Giessen: Anabas, 1991)
  • p. 26; p. 28 Tropeano, Ruggero, Frankfurter Hausgerät: Ferdinand Kramer und das 'Neue Frankfurt' in Lichtenstein, Claude, Ferdinand Kramer: der Charme des Systematischen (Giessen: Anabas, 1991)
Collection
Accession number
W.3-2005

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Record createdAugust 2, 2005
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